Stock markets rise after a week of bloodletting
Retail and tech led U.S. stocks higher Monday, with all three major U.S. stock market indexes closing up after a week of bloodletting.
Amazon gained 4.7 percent to $1,581.33 and Nike rose 1.8 percent to $72.77, after a shopping weekend that saw consumers spend $10 billion online. Booking Holdings, parent company of Priceline, gained 2.6 percent to $1,810, and MGM Resorts rose 5.1 percent to $27.13.
The Dow Jones gained 354 points, or 1.5 percent, closing at 24,640. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite climbed 2 percent, to 7,082. The S&P 500 closed 1.5 percent higher at 2,673.
A scheduled meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and China President Xi Jinping this week has raised investor hopes that the world's two largest economies can resolve their ongoing trade disputes.
"Any kind of statement that there will be a formal trade negotiation round following that meeting would be viewed as positive," Justin Waring, a strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management's Chief Investment Office, told The Associated Press. Absent an agreement, the U.S. is scheduled to hike tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods Jan. 1.
If the summit doesn't yield a solution, Mr. Trump is willing to slap tariffs on the rest of products the U.S. imports from China, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
General Motors stock rose 4.8 percent, to $37.65, after the automaker said it would lay off up to 14,000 workers in North America. The move, which could see up to five U.S. and Canadian plants close, is part of a restructuring to focus more on autonomous and electric vehicles. GM also wants to prepare for a future economic downturn while conditions are still good.
